I was actually hoping that this year’s Time Magazine Person of Year would actually go to one person, rather than a group, and that the person would not be Donald Trump. Thankfully, Time Magazine delivered. German Chancellor and all-around badass Angela Merkel is the Person of the Year. You can read the full profile here – Merkel has had a really busy year, dealing with European debt crises, dealing with Russian threats (and she’s one of the few European leaders with a close, respectful relationship to Putin), and dealing with the growing threat of ISIS, all while allowing thousands of Middle Eastern refugees into Germany. The question isn’t so much “Why is Merkel is the Person of the Year?” but “Why isn’t she the person of the year EVERY YEAR?”
The runner-up “People of the Year” list is pretty serious too. Per Time: No. 2- Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of ISIS; No. 3. – Donald Trump; No. 4 – The Black Lives Matter Activists; No. 5 – Iran President Hassan Rouhani; No. 6 – Uber CEO Travis Kalanick; No. 7 – Caitlyn Jenner. Yes, Caitlyn Jenner is up there with importance, just like Donald Trump and al-Baghdadi. You can read Caitlyn’s exclusive interview here – she isn’t saying anything new, just FYI. She says she’s not a spokesperson for the trans community, and her inclusion is more indicative of the larger and growing awareness of trans-issues this year.
So are you happy with the choice of Person of the Year? Should it have gone to Trump? Should it have gone to Black Lives Matter activists? As I said, I’m happy with the choice of Merkel. I think Trump would have been too controversial a choice, even though he’s been making crazy headlines all f—king year.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Does this list mean anything, its like a buzz list of people who wouldn’t shut up this year sprinkled every so often with people who matter.
You bring up a good point — how many people care about this list anymore? I know I don’t. But if I did I’d say they made the right choice.
True, it could be seen as that. I hate Trump but he has impacted and dominated the news for months and is frighteningly the leading candidate for president of one of our major political parties. Jenner brought the trans movement to the mainstream.
Anyway so happy Angela Merkel is the person of the year. She has been a real leader of the free world. She is a badazz.
Germany has some of the most oppressive expression restrictions in Europe. Not very free, by Western standards.
BabyJane, what exactly do you mean? The laws regarding Holocaust denialism?
Anyway, I disagree with your statement.
I also disagree. Please elaborate on your statement, BabyJane.
@ BabyJane, I agree and I’m kind of surprised she got this title for being “liberal” and “open-minded” when Germany is still quite discriminatory and there have been some notable controversies about equality recently.
Anna, would you explain why you agree with that statement?
@BabyJane @Anna Discriminatory in Germany? I was born and raised in Germany into a lower working class immigrant family and while I’ve endured situations where someone threw a racial slur at me, I’ve yet to experience real injustice. Same goes for my friends from different backgrounds as well. It’s not really a problem that’s caused by the government, but more of a “some people will always be assholes”-situation. But that’s a rather small group. The number of “concerned citizens”, as they’re being labeled, increases because of the ongoing crisis but I don’t think it will progress. It will eventually die down, once the government gets a hang of things and the society is actually rather open-minded and liberal. The majority of people won’t stand for discrimination, as most politicans won’t as well. As for the equality issue, there are laws against discrimination in any form, education is free, financial aid isn’t hard to get if you need it and everyone has the chance to work his way up if he puts an effort into it. I’m not saying it’s easy but it isn’t impossible. I’m not saying Germany is a perfect country by any means, but I think it’s a great place to live. And the oppressive expression restrictions aren’t bad, considering the fact that it concerns matters that violate the constitution like any Nazi-Propaganda (especially “Mein Kampf” and swastikas),child pornography, etc. The following years will be hard if you consider the refugee crisis but humanity actually had the upper hand so far. Therefore I really don’t see where you’re coming from with this. But I’m open to hear why you think so.
They never come back to elaborate because they always only pop in to post some xenophobic asinine statement and don’t want to deal with disagreement.
Press Freedom Index puts Germany in #12, the USA in #49 out of 180.
I totally agree. The “man of the year” used to be kind of a big deal, back when Time mattered, but I don’t think anyone pays much attention to this supposed honor anymore.
Why is the leader of ISIS number 2? That seems more controversial than Trump.
The list is not always positive – it’s people who have dominated the news and caused major change this year, regardless of whether it’s good or bad. Hitler was also the Person of the Year. Joseph Stalin won twice. It’s not about how good you are.
It feels like a nomination for the sake of being provocative. ISIS thrives off publicity and using social media to get their message across and get new recruits. Why contribute to their credibility?
EXACTLY! This is exactly the type of thing Daesh would celebrate! Awful AWFUL choice! Can’t believe TIME magazine!!
So crazy! As if they wouldn’t want people to talk about them!
Time has definitely made some dark people their Person of the year. It’s more a round up of who has had the most effect on the world stage for good or ill. Ideally it’s not gossip but good old fashioned journalism.
I love this choice for the simple fact that it will make Trump livid.
That was my main reaction – at least it wasn’t Trump.
Especially because it’s a “female” .Pun intended
And he doesn’t disappoint! He’s sputtering that Merkel has ruined Germany. Because insulting allies is the way to lead.
Thanks it’s not Putin
ISIS leader is #2?? I just can’t.
why not? they are important, important does not mean good. just like Hitler was a person of the year and historically he is important.
Because it will only encourage them and give them legitimacy, that’s why. The president just gave a speech about how they’ll destroy themselves eventually and Time goes and gives them an ego boost.
yes im sure Hitler and Stalin were encouraged by their Time Magazine covers…
@Saphana Its not about encouraging any particular person or elevating them. It’s intended to inform people about what’s going on in the world and the influence a particular issue has. It’s not an award.
What makes ISIS dangerous in the west is their ability to recruit with propaganda and promote “lone wolf” attacks. Putting an ISIS leader on the list just gives them credibility in a weird way.
No press is bad press.
I was hoping Bernie Sanders would be on the list. I’m happy with the choice. No, Trump shouldn’t get the cover. It would be rewarding his absurd,racist behavior. He’s such an AHOLE!
Me, too. He won the readers’ poll and I thought he had a shot.
Yeah, it was a bit of a slap in the face to the online voters that he didn’t even make the shortlist. I guess that Internet poll was just for funsies…
while that would be too US-centric Sanders would make more sense than any other candidate as he seems to be something unheard of in american politics. Trump is a run of the mill wing nut.
Next year after he wins the election. 😉
I can agree with this. We forget that TIME is trying to pick somebody on an international scale. If they were just selecting from within the USA, I have no doubt Trump probably would have won. Because he is dominating the conversation here. But Merkel is certainly a more responsible “world” choice. Just because the USA isn’t paying her much attention doesn’t mean she’s not getting stuff done.
she is getting the stuff done the USA are responsible for by the way.
+1
+2
This is the first time in my LIFE that it’s been a woman… and I’m 28.
The last woman was Corazon Aquino (president of the Phillippines, widow of assassinated senator, leader of nonviolent revolution) in 1986.
About time.
Interestingly enough it’s possible that there will be two back to back as the winner of the U.S. Election will almost certainly be the cover next year.
Eh. I voted for Hil in the last primary, but I gotta go Sanders this time.
I know this cover is for positive or negative reasons, but there is no female public/famous person less close to my heart!
Is this for real? I have never seen a more ridiculous list.
Ridiculous is correct, especially when you have a Kardashain on the list I believe to be the last 3 yrs
I just can’t with those ppl
Good choice though as the POTY
I’m actually surprised UBER guy was up there, his voting numbers were low last time I checked
An ISIS leader, for real?! Wtf???!!!
The Ayatollah Khoumeni was man of the year and Osama Bin Laden has been on the list in the past. It goes to the person or thing that has had the most impact, good or bad
the list is not about people who do good. its about who was important in the year.
Merkel is doing good and it makes the most sense imho. Trump, Jenner and BLM would be very US-centric whereas Merkel is worldwide.
Oh thanks for the clarification… Didn’t know that… Btw, I’m from germany and shes really beloved here
Beloved?! ugh…
And what is she doing? She does NOTHING! She even shaped a new word called “merkeln”, which means, basically waiting until the problem solves itself or waiting for a bigger, more important problem so that the people forget about the other. For her, only the image is important, everything is superficial, nothing profound, no politics for the people only for industry. But no, Germany is doing great, BELIEVE IT!
Even the french president made fun of her, saying it is only a show.
I think Putin would have been a good choice, or Snowden, or Kim Yon-Un (the one from north korea) or Assad.
I don’t know about that…having German family and having been in Germany a while back, I got the impression she wasn’t all that beloved by everyone at least. Quite a few people seemed indifferent or dissatisfied with her. Not that I have any special insight, I just picked up on it.
Until you had one someone like Bush or Obama and the full US Congress run your country for decades you can’t know what NOTHING means. NOTHING ever gets done in the US because everyone is only interested in scoring points.
I love Merkel, she works hard and gets things done.
And the fact like people like Trump or John McCain have been serious contenders for the presidency in the US speaks volumes about what the US is about to the international community. I don’t know how anyone still takes us seriously. Must be all those nuclear bombs and warplanes that do the trick.
@Farhi:
I’m from Germany and I can tell you that this woman pisses me of. She does nothing, as others have already mentioned. She just sits there in silence and waits for problems to solve themselves. The ONLY thing she has ever done and that I even agree with is showing some heart concerning the refugees. BUT she has waited far too long to finally open her mouth. There were already thousands of people coming every day for weeks until she said something about it. Also, this migration flow is no surprise. Many people saw it coming and the government should have prepared for this. And by that I don’t mean closing the borders but setting up the structures to help all those refugees. Most of the helping was and is done by overworked volunteers. They keep all of this running. They set up the structures. While at least being positive about it, Merkel did nothing at all. Nothing!
Also, I don’t think that Obama is the cause why nothing seems to change in the US. What can he do if the congress (Republicans!) block everything?! Bush only destroyed shit and set the world on fire. What do you think the hate and violence in the Middle East is coming from? He started wars and European countries that were stupid enough to believe him (Merkel was also kissing his ass but – thank god – she was not in charge back then) are responsible for this.
Both Bush and Obama are incompetent. Bush was the decider who let others sway him towards wrong decisions and Obama can’t decide anything at all so he does nothing.
A smart capable president should be able to work with the Congress and be able to cut deals regardless.
But yes, the US Congress is mostly to blame for nothing getting done.
The whole country is run by incompetent or self-interested people because there is no way for a decent person to reach the top. The US is an oligarchy and the population is controlled through shameless and endless propaganda and the people are oblivious to the horrors committed in their name.
“A smart capable president should be able to work with the Congress and be able to cut deals regardless.”
In an ideal world, yes they should. But when you have a House and Senate that vow to stop anything Obama puts through just because they want him to fail, it doesn’t work that way. We have toddlers in Congress, and because of the balance of powers and checks and balances, a President cannot enact thoughtful legislation on their own.
I do agree that the US is an oligarchy.
I don’t like here, but I guess she’s the best option that Germany has right now.
Time is an American magazine. It’s allowed to be US-centric, if that’s really a word.
It certainly is, but I am nonetheless happy that they chose a badass who’s done a phenomenal job getting it done over a dumbass whose major accomplishment has been re-extending his fifteen minutes so that his time in the spotlight has dragged on long enough to even be considered for Person of the Year in the first place.
That depends on how they define the list. If it’s supposed to be most important people in the world (meaning affecting the world) it shouldn’t be any centric. If it’s most important people for the USA (affecting the USA) then go ahead. But just because it’s an American magazine doesn’t mean it shouldn’t or couldn’t have a wider view on world events.
Beloved? My many Bavarian friends (business, education) often say otherwise.
Yeah but Bavaria isn’t really a part of Germany if you ask some Baverians. “Freistaat Bayern” and all. I guess Bavaria is known as the Texas of Germany? 😀
Caitlyn’s gave an “exclusive” interview you say. Funny.
She kinda opened the doors for refugees, but now that there are too many of them Germany is slowly shutting down and the poor Balkan countries, the only ones who actually bothered to register them, are going to be stranded with refugees who don’t want to stay there. She underestimated the amount if people who would come.
She HAD to open the door. Like most West European politicians, she waited too long, ignoring warnings, and calls for help from camps in Jordania and Lebanon. She didn’t help Italy when they had to start picking people out of the sea on a daily basis. She usually just waits problems over, only this time, that wasn’t possible anymore.
No, I completely agree, I just think it could have been logistically done better. Half of these people are economical migrants, which is an issue.
Crap! I really have to laugh at your comment. You make it sound like the Balkan countries do their very best and she’s just ruining it. I don’t like her, but I really have to give her credit how she handles the situation right now. Oh and btw the Balkan countries are the ones who are closing their borders and pen up the refugees like animals. Winter is coming and people are going to die because they closed the borders.
Which Balkan countries are treating them like animals?
Well, Slovenia and Croatia at least are doing their best. I know Croatia build a refugee center from scratch on the border. It is hard to deal with migrants who don’t want to stay in those countries not even a bit so they could get medical help. And with Hungary closing it’s borders there is basically a bottle neck thing happening.
It also doesn’t hel that there was an election in Croatia 3 weeks ago with no one getting the majority and negotiations are still going so there isn’t even a governement in place.
I suppose you are referring to the Balkan countries that have already been fleeced by Merkel’s policies and cannot even take care of their own citizens, but are expected to handle a crisis they had no hand in creating.
There are reports about countries like Slovenia and Hungary which put immigrants in camps without tents or heaters and get at them with tear gas or bats. And I honestly don’t get why they close the borders. The people have to go somewhere, they can’t stay there and just die. Europe has to split them up and countries who won’t take refugees in should pay money to make up for it imo.
Oh and I think it’s not the point who started this whole crisis. Europe looked away for years when they arrived in Italy or Greece. We also have to deal with it now and we better treat them as human beings. It’s a human right to seek shelter.
“There are reports about countries like Slovenia and Hungary which put immigrants in camps without tents or heaters and get at them with tear gas or bats.”
I don’t know where you get such reports, but I wouldn’t trust even a weather report coming from such sources.
For reasons both personal and professional (being a journalist), I am intimately familiar with most of Central Europe – except Hungary (which, in this particular case, is a special case, thanks to its current president), and I actually *am* in Slovenia as I write this.
Did your source indicate that the country received a sudden inflx of the equivalent of 10 % of its population in a matter of two weeks or so? (To put in perspective: that would be like 35 million people entering the USA in two weeks, sometimes several millions in a single day, with the great difference that there is a lot of space in the USA.)
Most of them were headed – through Austria – towards Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, so they didn’t stay more than a few days. Initially, all of them were offered tents (during the unusally long and dry autumn, with tempertures of up to 25 C), later they were housed in built structures; but, again, most are moving on anyway, because Germany and Sweden have always been their original destinations.
If you want to pick examples of poor refugee “management”, go and see Calais.
THAT really is difficult to understand.
Still, I’d like to see how the USA would react when faced with tens of millions (speaking proportionally) pressing on its borders – unannounced, to boot.
Speaking of which… how many refugees HAVE they taken in?
…and one of these countries who has already been plunged into massive poverty largely due to her policies (affecting numerous WOMEN and children) is forced to accept the bulk of the refugees. I CANNOT with Merkel or her cronies.
Merkel is not responsible for the failure of other countries, get a grip.
When was the last time female world leader was person of the year. Or has that ever happened?
Merkel is however quite controversial in Europe at the moment due to how she has handled the refugee crisis. I think refugees should be let it but everyone has been so ill prepared that Merkel’s actions were not well thought out.
I agree. I feel for the refugees, who are desperate to get away from violence in their homelands. But all of the European leaders should be ashamed of themselves, including Merkel, for encouraging so many people to come when they can’t take care of them. Many refugees are now living in tents in the Northern European winter. And neither she nor her fellow leaders seems to have long or even medium-term plans for jobs, education and permanent housing for all the new arrivals.
+1000000
What should have they done – said “let them eat cake” or like the US simply closed borders to anyone from Iraq or Syria?
I also want to know what the alternative should have been – they didn’t encouraged anyone! It’s a human right to seek asylum and we also signed the refugee convention, there’s no way to “avoid” it.
BLM No? I’d say that was a pretty significant group this year.
I’m glad they didn’t award it to a pop star but Aung San Suu Kyi should’ve been on that list.
Siri is absolutely right. Nothing badass about Merkel.besides the refugee crisis she is all for business and economy and completly short sited. The reason whY tjere are so many refugee is due to the Americans waring in the middle East. If she really would habe Bern courageoues she would habe told that to Obama but all she is doing is crawling into america’s behind. Its a joke how many refugee are taken by the US regarding their responsibility.
“The reason whY tjere are so many refugee is due to the Americans waring in the middle East”
Not exactly. You also have Syrian President Assad bombing his own people, gassing his own people, and bombing hospitals. You have ISIS slaughtering people. Currently in the middle east, you have ISIS, Turkey, Russia, US, Syria and France conducting military strikes. It isn’t just the US.
ISIS is a product not a reason. While the rest of your attempt may be valid at certain points, the very existence of ISIS was forewarned and manifactured by a war and conflict which USA began. And to be honest, it’s notmpeople who matter, it’s resources and has always been!